Operating in the shadows and away from the raging violence, Mexico-based Chinese ‘money brokers’ have emerged as key players in the multi-billion dollar drug empires run by Mexican cartels.

My story on this new phenomenon: https://reut.rs/33Eb3X8 

This lengthy story tracks the life of one such Chinese businessman and a money laundering ring operating out of Guadalajara.

The broker allegedly helped launder tens of millions of U.S. dollars for multiple Mexican gangs, including the famed Sinaloa cartel, U.S. sources say.

The tools of their trade? Code words, burner phones, encrypted messaging apps, Chinese banking applications, and an authentic $1 bill. (Read the story!)

The Chinese brokers have been slowly squeezing out Colombian and Mexican moneymen who have long dominated the money laundering trade fueled by Latin American cartels, DEA and other U.S. officials say.

Their advantage over traditional players? They’re cheaper!

By routing the drug proceeds of Latin American cartels via China, these brokers have upended the global narcotics trade, and made it harder for U.S. agents to ‘follow the money’.

U.S. law enforcement officials say they receive v. little help from China in these money laundering investigations, which makes it incredibly hard to infiltrate such crime groups.

Beijing rejects claims it doesn’t help.

The Chinese brokers' rise to prominence has been partly fueled by events on the other side of the world, in China, where increased prosperity has led to a rising number of rich Chinese bidding to smuggle their wealth OUT of China.

China has strict limits on how much money can be taken out of the country every year ($50k), so rich Chinese nationals use informal channels to get their money out of China and gain access to cash in places like New York, London, Paris.

Who has plenty of dollars, euros and other hard currencies sitting in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the world?

That’s right, Latin American drug organizations who sold their drugs in those very same countries.

In truth, Chinese brokers have long been helping other Chinese nationals illegally move money out of China.

But by plugging Mexican drug money into their schemes, they’ve disrupted the global drugs money laundering trade and come into the crosshairs of U.S. agents.

Virtually unheard of a decade ago, now U.S. prosecutors in Chicago say Chinese money brokers based in Mexico “have come to dominate international money laundering markets.”

Gan Xianbing, the Chinese businessman who founded a seafood export business out of Guadalajara, denies money laundering.

He claims he was set up by U.S. agents in a sting operation. But a jury in Chicago found him guilty.

Now he faces 20 years in jail.